RAISE - Working for the Voluntary and Community sector in the South East of Englandhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 15:15:07 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2VCSE Sector Review launchedhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/02/2015/vcse-sector-review-launched/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vcse-sector-review-launched
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/02/2015/vcse-sector-review-launched/#commentsTue, 03 Feb 2015 16:13:20 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5707Read more »]]>Feed your thoughts in to the future of the VCSE in health and care

The Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England have launched a review of their funding of the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector to improve the health and wellbeing of the nation’s population. The purpose of this review is to assess the impact upon the sector of government and statutory sector funding, commissioning and partnerships and to consider whether changes are required which would better support: the demonstrable contribution of the sector to achieving health and wellbeing goals; the capacity and sustainability of the sector; the independence, inclusivity and diversity of the sector, including its ability to promote equality and provide an effective voice for the most disadvantaged in society.

The review will make recommendations about maximising the value of the central grant programme. It will also consider the impact of cross-government spending on the VCSE health and care sector and on local relationships between VCSE organisations and Clinical Commissioning Groups, Health and Wellbeing Boards, councils and other statutory bodies.

The review has been commissioned by the Department of Health (DH), NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) and will be overseen by an advisory group of national system leaders and voluntary sector representatives working together in an open process, and with wider public engagement (including a representative from Regional Voices). The initial recommendations and thoughts of the review will be presented to senior leaders across the DH, NHS England and PHE and then ultimately to new Ministers after the election to support early thinking on how best to support the VCSE sector during the course of the new Parliament.

The advisory group is co-producing the recommendations and we encourage as many organisations and as wide a range of kinds of VCSE organisation as possible to engage with the review. The advisory group is being chaired by Alex Fox from Shaping our Lives, who says:

“All the major health and care strategies now recognise that the big health and wellbeing challenges we face cannot possibly be met without strong and effective charities, community groups and social enterprises. They innovate, deliver vital services, reach overlooked groups and mobilise community action. With the sector’s help, we will put together a new model for central government’s health and care grant programme but we will also gather and share the wider sector’s views on how local areas can use limited resources effectively in their partnerships with the sector. Whilst we’ve only a brief period to gather views ahead of the election, I’d urge everyone from the sector to help us to build a full picture of our diverse sector, the roles and impact it has now and could have with the right support, and how it can become more sustainable during austerity.”

]]>http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/02/2015/vcse-sector-review-launched/feed/0HIV infections continue to risehttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/12/2014/hiv-infections-continue-to-rise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hiv-infections-continue-to-rise
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/12/2014/hiv-infections-continue-to-rise/#commentsMon, 15 Dec 2014 12:05:07 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5687Read more »]]>A new report published by Public Health England shows that there are now nearly 110,000 people living with HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) in the UK. Around a quarter of these (26,100) are unaware of their infection and at risk of passing on the virus to others through unprotected sex. Encouragingly, the proportion of people diagnosed with a late stage of HIV infection fell from 57% in 2004 to 42% in 2013.

The report shows around 6% of gay and bisexual men are now living with HIV. This rises to 13% in London – with 3,250 newly diagnosed in 2013, an all-time annual high. It is estimated that over 7,000 gay men have an HIV infection that remains undiagnosed and that an estimated 2,800 men acquired HIV in 2013. These figures underline the need to further increase both the numbers and frequency of HIV tests, which is critical to tackling the ongoing high levels of HIV transmission.

In 2013 we set out a new purpose for CQC: to make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and to encourage care services to improve. To make sure we focus on this, we proposed wide-ranging changes to how we regulate and inspect services.

After extensive consultation over the past year, we are now announcing a new way of regulating and inspecting care homes, community adult social care, GPs and Out-of-hours services in England. There are many changes, but one of the most significant is that we will now rate services to help people compare and choose services, highlighting where care is outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Our three Chief Inspectors have produced a short video to introduce these changes, which you can view here…

A huge thank you to everyone who helped to develop our new approach as part of our advisory groups and through our consultation earlier this year.

During the consultation we asked a number of key questions:

how should we seek out and listen to the experiences of the public, including patients and their relatives, friends or carers;

are we inspecting the right services?;

are the questions we will ask on inspections the right ones?;

how do we make sure that our ratings are consistent.

We listened to your feedback on all of these points and our consultation response sets out what we did as a result. You can read the full consultation responses

We have also published new handbooks for providers setting out our new approach to regulation and inspection in detail and these are now available on our website:

These handbooks include our view of what good and outstanding care looks like. We will be publishing information about this which is aimed at the public over the coming months.

We will be publishing our final guidance for inspecting hospice services later this month.

We also continue to host discussions and reviews about the way we work on our online community for the public. If you are not already a member, please sign up here.

Yours sincerely,

David Behan, Chief Executive

]]>http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/11/2014/letter-from-cqc/feed/0RAISE backs our Chairman Caroline Shaw in NCVO Trustee electionhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/10/2014/raise-backs-our-chairman-caroline-shaw-in-ncvo-trustee-election/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=raise-backs-our-chairman-caroline-shaw-in-ncvo-trustee-election
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/10/2014/raise-backs-our-chairman-caroline-shaw-in-ncvo-trustee-election/#commentsFri, 24 Oct 2014 15:15:07 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5652Read more »]]>Voting is now open for new NCVO Trustees. If you are an NCVO member you should have received instructions on how to vote.

We are really pleased that our Chairman, Caroline Shaw, has thrown her hat into the ring. Caroline has been involved with RAISE for many years and knows the voluntary sector in the South East really well.

You can see information on all nine candidates on the NCVO voting screen.

Get your votes in before Monday 27th October!

]]>http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/10/2014/raise-backs-our-chairman-caroline-shaw-in-ncvo-trustee-election/feed/0Putting people back on their feethttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/10/2014/putting-people-back-on-their-feet/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=putting-people-back-on-their-feet
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/10/2014/putting-people-back-on-their-feet/#commentsFri, 03 Oct 2014 14:05:51 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5632Read more »]]>A simple fall can have dramatic consequences – broken bones, or shattered confidence, with months of care needed as a result.

The local NHS is trying to improve the way it cares for people who suffer injuries after falling over.

The NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups in Portsmouth and south east Hampshire want to hear from people who have used the falls service, or those who care for them. They’re running a simple survey, and talking to people in small groups to discuss what works well, and what could be better.

There are about 117,000 people aged 65 or over in Portsmouth and south east Hampshire, and 30% will fall over at least once each year.

Dr Jon Price, a Portsmouth GP who is helping to lead this work, said: “For most people falling over may be a bit embarrassing or painful, but for some it can be devastating and life-changing. Current services are already very good, but we want them to be even better.”

If you have needed care after a fall, or live with someone who has, please help the NHS to improve.

Take part in the survey online or call 023 9268 4821 to request a paper copy.

]]>http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/10/2014/putting-people-back-on-their-feet/feed/0Why not-for-profit organisations must embrace technologyhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/09/2014/why-not-for-profit-organisations-must-embrace-technology/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-not-for-profit-organisations-must-embrace-technology
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/09/2014/why-not-for-profit-organisations-must-embrace-technology/#commentsFri, 26 Sep 2014 13:40:08 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5625Read more »]]>In 2014 Access Group’s Not-for-Profit Division held the Technology Think Tank bringing together 10 key influencers from across the not-for-profit sector including consultants, clients and journalists. It has produced a white paper which highlights the five key trends that will impact the sector over the next three years.

Personalisation and ‘Badgification’

We’re living in a time-poor, attention short world. NFPs will need to develop more strategic and focussed communications with their audience – and will need the support of technology to achieve this.

Integration

With NFPs increasingly tasked with replacing legacy CRM software, the need for system integration across the whole of an organisation is greater than ever. Personalisation requires a solid CRM system, but without the integration in place it is difficult to accurately segment and profile the data in a manner that makes intelligent personalisation a real possibility.

Insight

With integration comes accessible insight. It’s this critical intelligence which enables NFPs to base decisions, plans and actions. With an overwhelming amount of data available today, analytics is essential to making it meaningful, to help drive the organisation forward and ensure the best use of time, resources and funds.

Mobile

The continued rise in the use of mobile technology means there is an increased need for donors, supporters and members to be able to interact with organisations regardless of the device they use.

Mobile is fast becoming core to all website and applications, providing accessibility from anywhere and on any device, including non-PC, smartphone and tablet.

Cost Control

The NFP sector has a duty to ensure that the funds given to them are put to best use for the case(s) that they serve. Subsequently, one of the main issues for NFPs is to keep control of overheads and reduce them if at all possible.

NHS Citizen aims to enable the public to put forward their thoughts, concerns and vision for the future of the NHS, which can then be discussed at the NHS Citizen Assembly Meeting, where Members of the Board of NHS England, NHS senior managers and members of the public can work together to “shape the future of the NHS”.

The NHS Citizen team is keen for “the hardest to hear”, more marginalised groups, to get involved. Voluntary sector organisations may wish to support the people they work with to have a say at NHS Citizen – either by shaping the event beforehand or participating at the event in person or through social media.

Organisations in the Brighton area might also be interested to note that the University of Brighton’s Community University Partnership Programme is holding a seminar on ‘The NHS Citizen’ on 10 October. Find out more

]]>http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/09/2014/nhs-citizen-assembly-and-nhs-england-agm/feed/0CQC consultation on proposed guidance for providershttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/09/2014/cqc-consultation-on-proposed-guidance-for-providers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cqc-consultation-on-proposed-guidance-for-providers
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/09/2014/cqc-consultation-on-proposed-guidance-for-providers/#commentsThu, 04 Sep 2014 19:10:40 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5603Read more »]]>CQC has launched a consultation on proposed guidance for providers. The proposed guidance relates to meeting the new health and social care regulations and how CQC uses their enforcement powers.

]]>http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/09/2014/cqc-consultation-on-proposed-guidance-for-providers/feed/0Review of the EHRC Strategic Planhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/08/2014/review-of-the-ehrc-strategic-plan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-of-the-ehrc-strategic-plan
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/08/2014/review-of-the-ehrc-strategic-plan/#commentsTue, 26 Aug 2014 11:33:39 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5589Read more »]]>The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published a consultation on the statutory review of its Strategic Plan.

The Commission’s current Strategic Plan was published on 27 March 2012 and can be viewed here. Under the Equality Act 2006 it must be reviewed at least once every three years, which means that by 27 March 2015 the Commission needs to have consulted on it and taken any representations into account.

At the same time, the EHRC is developing its next statutory report on progress towards equality and human rights, to be entitled ‘Is Britain fairer? The state of equality and human rights 2015′. This will be published in September 2015, and will be an important source of evidence on which to base the future Strategic Plan.

In light of this, the Commission is proposing the following course of action and would welcome views on it:

To defer any fundamental revision of the Strategic Plan until after the EHRC’s statutory report on progress towards equality and human rights is published next year. By then, the context for its future work should also be clearer following Scotland’s referendum and the General Election;

To retain the Strategic Plan in its current form, subject to some minor amendments; and

To maintain the current strategic priorities and the key objectives identified in the current Business Plan.

]]>http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/08/2014/review-of-the-ehrc-strategic-plan/feed/0Charities should explain approach to financial riskhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/08/2014/charities-should-explain-approach-to-financial-risk/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=charities-should-explain-approach-to-financial-risk
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/08/2014/charities-should-explain-approach-to-financial-risk/#commentsTue, 26 Aug 2014 11:31:22 +0000Editorhttp://www.raise-networks.org.uk/?p=5587Read more »]]>The Charity Commission is reminding charities that have current debts exceeding available funds to explain in their Trustees’ Annual Report how they are addressing the associated risks. A review of almost a hundred charity accounts found that nearly half failed to discuss the issue in their reports.

The person leading the review said

“A net current liability doesn’t necessarily mean that a charity is facing financial difficulties, but if this situation continues for a sustained period then the charity’s long term survival must be questionable. Trustees should use their Trustees’ Annual report and accounts as an opportunity to reassure their funders, supporters and beneficiaries that they are actively managing the situation.”